Problem: T4R running badly after car wash, please help

[Qyota]

Problem: T4R running badly after car wash, code P0100

I just limped my '99 home after a horrible experience at the car wash. It's an automatic wash that you pull into. I always shut the engine off. The wash was done, so I went to start the truck to go through the drier, when it just stalled. That's weird...try it again...stalled immediately. One more time, same thing. Next time I give it some gas while starting, and it barely comes to life, long enough for me to get it in gear and get out.

I can tell it's going to stall again, so I keep the rpms up and drive the 1 mile home. It has very little power, and according to my scangauge it was getting about 2mpgs on the way home. I make it to my garage and just let it stall. I get out, and there is a pretty bad smell in the air, but I can't tell quite what it is...probably just running REALLY rich.

Any ideas? No codes on my ScangaugeII, but it sounds like it's running on 4 or 5 cylinders, and smells like it too (gassy)

Thanks

 

[4Evr4RunN3R]

i dont think the car wash had anything to do with it. it might be a coincidence that it happened right after. Have you checked your coils or plugs?

 

[Stick Figure]

start w/ the plugs and see if they got water in the holes causing misfires. This is fairly common if your washing an engine bay, but i'm sure its possible w/ a car wash that probably has jets shooting from the bottom up. If you don't find water there, you basically are just going to have to look for anything electrical that has water in the connector. The good news is that it pretty much has to be on the output side of the ECU for it to not trigger a code.

 

[Qyota]

Yeah, still no codes.

Pulled all plug wires...bone dry.

The truck ran perfectly pulling in to the car wash, then like crap after...I guess it could be a coincidence, but doesn't seem likely.

I know I had a leak from a missing bolt on the roof rack (rearmost driver site bolt)...and water did come in the hatch area during the car wash. Is there anything back there that could have been affected? I guess I'll have to pull panels and see.

Dammit, this sucks!

 

[Victor]

Try this, gather water in a spray bottle preferably one that can spray a mist. Start the engine, try it first cold. Spray the mist of water on your spark plug wires on your driver side if nothing happens increase the amount of water. Once you've determined that side is OK, switch to the passenger side and start with the mist. It may be a pain with the air box resonator being in your way. If that doesn't yield any results try it with the engine at full operating temp.

 

[rdgt4r]

if the engine shakes a bit and a crappy idol as well as driving at low RPM's i would say bad wires i had the same thing happen to me changed the plugs first and then the wires now it runs great

 

[Qyota]

Hi Victor, thanks for the idea, but I don't know how that can help...as it's still running very poorly. I guess if I was trying to re-create the problem, that would be one way to go about it...but the problem is here and now.

I will start with new plugs and wires, we'll see how that turns out.

Thanks

 

[Qyota]

if the engine shakes a bit and a crappy idol as well as driving at low RPM's i would say bad wires i had the same thing happen to me changed the plugs first and then the wires now it runs great

Thanks. Were your coilpacks OK? That's the expensive part of the equation, so I hope mine are still OK. Not sure how to test them.

I have no idea how I'm going to get the 3rd driver side plug out, but I'm sure I'll get plenty of cuts and scrapes trying!

 

[Jordan Petry]

Mine did the same thing after I washed under the hood a few weeks back. It died while washing under the hood and when I started it back up it immediately died again. The second time it started up and idled low for a few seconds then was back to its normal peppy self. Plenty of power and no problems since, I just assumed it was some water in the spark plug wells that boiled out or something.

 

[rdgt4r]

ahhhh damn i forget about the coil packs i know thats what i thought at first with one of my automotive friends but his boss said that it would throw a specific code or something. if one coil pack goes out it shuts off 2 cylinders instead of just one if you had a bad wire. so just knowing what the engine sounds like is important. also clean your MAF. but like for me i did it all in parts first I cleaned my MAF, didnt work. so then i did all new plugs, didnt work, then new wires and that was the trick for me with similar problems but i think the only way is to prolly do the same...

PS i believe the code mine threw was cylinder 1 or something similar.

 

[rdgt4r]

i think you can test the coil packs by checking with a voltmeter or something along those lines and to access the plugs on both sides is a pain in the A$$ it helps to take the intake off right at the throttle body as for the driver side well if you want to take the intake manifold off your gonna have to get creative. lol

 

[LINY4Runner]

Thanks. Were your coilpacks OK? That's the expensive part of the equation, so I hope mine are still OK. Not sure how to test them.

I have no idea how I'm going to get the 3rd driver side plug out, but I'm sure I'll get plenty of cuts and scrapes trying!

If you can determine what cylinder is missing, try swapping out the coil packs and see if the mis moves to that cylinder


As for the drivers side back plug: long extension and a swivel joint will make changing it a breeze!! you will no longer fear changing that plug haha

 

[Dave2one5]

If you can determine what cylinder is missing, try swapping out the coil packs and see if the mis moves to that cylinder


As for the drivers side back plug: long extension and a swivel joint will make changing it a breeze!! you will no longer fear changing that plug haha

this...i had no problem even with s/c and all the other random stereo wires/boxes i got stuffed under my hood...if i were you, the first thing i'd do is turn it on, give it a lil gas/warm it up a bit, then unhook ur battery for half hour to let the computer die out, then try again...(when in doubt, reset the thing b4 you freak hahaha, I dealt with this with my dads infinity all weekend...finally figured it out(computers in those just go nuts when you change anything, christ do they make those things hard to work on yourself (new FX)
if not, changs wires (they are dirt cheap, and easy to do so you can figure out if that is your problem.)
:

 

[Qyota]

Again, my scangauge isn't picking up any codes...so I'm still not sure it's a coilpack or a wire...wouldn't that give me a misfire code on at least one cylinder?

I'll be picking up plugs/wires after work and trying it out.

While we're all here, how does one remove the wire from the coilpack? Does the coilpack have to come off first?

Thanks

 

[DavidAlexander]

Again, my scangauge isn't picking up any codes...so I'm still not sure it's a coilpack or a wire...wouldn't that give me a misfire code on at least one cylinder?

I'll be picking up plugs/wires after work and trying it out.

While we're all here, how does one remove the wire from the coilpack? Does the coilpack have to come off first?

Thanks

Undo the bolt that is holding the coil pack in. There is a little holder that clips the wire to the coil pack. Unclip those and pop the wire from the coil pack. It will be kind of like a snap on a shirt. Then you can just pull the coil pack out. It may have a little suction.

As for the 3rd driver plug, taking off the OBD port bracket makes it easier if you haven't already done that.

 

[Dave2one5]

Again, my scangauge isn't picking up any codes...so I'm still not sure it's a coilpack or a wire...wouldn't that give me a misfire code on at least one cylinder?

I'll be picking up plugs/wires after work and trying it out.

While we're all here, how does one remove the wire from the coilpack? Does the coilpack have to come off first?

Thanks

again...try resetting the computer b4 u go thru all that hassle...it can't do any harm. Disconnect the negative on the battery and wait a half hour or so, then plug it back up and have another try. while it's unhooked triple check all ur connections and open up ur electrical boxes to dry out/make sure everything is seated properly.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

i may of missed it but im asuming you checked your fuses? i bealive there is a fuse for the fuel injection system. check that. i remember pulling mine out of my old car and forgetting to put it back in and it ran just like that.

 

[Qyota]

OK, got the parts and got things taken apart.

I also re-checked my scangauge, and now it's showing 1 code: P0100. Something with the MAF.

I took out 4 of the 6 spark plugs (the easy ones), and they all looked the same: BAD! They were all black and smelled gassy. They were mostly dry, but definitely showing a very rich environment.

So, I think the MAF is the problem...or something connected to it...since all the cylinders (so far) are seeing the same bad mixture.

Any ideas on a fix? Can anyone interpret the code for me, or give me a way to test my MAF?

Thanks!

 

[Jordan Petry]

I don't think you can test the MAF w/o spending a bunch of money which you could have just replaced the MAF w/ anyways. Mine was bad when I bought the truck and it had no power, replaced it and walah! Ran like a new car.

The code straight out of my service manual is as follows...

Mass Air Flow Circuit Malfunction:

Possible Trouble Areas:
1. Open or short in MAF circuit
2. Mass air flow meter
3. ECM

That probably doesn't help much but I figured I'd post it just in case.

 

[Qyota]

Thanks jordan. I did a bit of digging and found that I can test resistance and voltage of the MAF, so I'll do that and report back.